The Internet has boosted the transfer of control for media to the public. Along with the ability to search for and watch professionally produced programming at their leisure, members of the public have unlimited access to media created by ordinary people and posted on media sites such as YouTube. Further, people are able to share media with their family, friends and colleagues through social networking sites like Facebook™ and MySpace™.
Online advertising has also grown and evolved in response to the popularity of media and social networking websites. Banner ads, pop up ads, sponsored link ads and comparison shopping ads are among the types readily available on the web. However, advertisers are constantly challenged with providing targeted audiences with effective advertisements that ultimately lead to sales. One traditional format used to accomplish the foregoing utilizes individuals familiar to and trusted by members of a target audience to endorse a product by providing testimonials or a positive opinion about their own experience with the product. In most cases, popular sports figures or celebrities have enough sway with an audience to convince them to support the endorsed product.
Finding new ways to utilize trusted relationships to market products and services to online audiences continues to garner interest from advertisers in light of the relatively low costs and high dissemination rate of the Internet.